Utkal University student leader commits suicide

Reported by Santosh Jagdev

Bhubaneswar, Mar 26:

Commissionerate Police on Wednesday afternoon recovered the body of a student leader of Utkal University Firoz Ranahandol, who was found hanging at his residence in Old Town under Lingaraj police limits here.

Firoz, a second year student of Personnel Management and Industrial Relations at Utkal University, was active in student politics since the time he joined the university. He was living on the third floor of Rashmi Apartment at Nageswar Tangi while his elder brother and his family lived on the second floor of the same apartment.

Family members of the deceased said that he was missing since Tuesday morning. They said they were not  too worried about the matter since he used to go out and then return after a day or two.

However, this afternoon, when a servant went to Firoz’s room, he found it locked from inside. Failing to get any answer from the room, he immediately called the family members who later broke open the door and entered the room. They found Firoz’s bloated body hanging from the fan. Lingaraj police, after interrogation of the family members, took the body to the Capital hospital for autopsy.

The friends and relatives of the deceased were shocked by the incident. “As far I know him, he would not do any such thing. He used to handle all issues with courage in University,” said a classmate of Firoz. Ranahandol’s family members were also clueless about the incident.

Neighbours said that Firoz used to have regular fights with his father over some family business issues. However, they did not accept it as the reason of his death. “Two weeks ago, he came back from Paradip where his father Mahindra Ranahandol stays and he was in a bad mood,” said a friend, with whom Firoz talked over phone on Monday.

Meanwhile Lingaraj police have registered an Unnatural death case in connection with the incident.

Notably, Ranahandol allegedly had a role in students’ unrest in the campus. Some of his rivals had even demanded his immediate arrest and staged demonstration in the campus several times.